Planning and Evaluation of the article

I looked at two articles in my chosen genre.
The first was an article on Slipknot live by 'Kerrang! Magazine'. Because of the heavy rock genre of this band, the review was quite serious. The effect of this was it really dramatised the readers imagination when the writer was talking about the violent mosh-pits and the general toughness of the crowd. The text itself was quite copy-light even for a big band. This is because the people reading the magazine are implied to be dumb or just not big readers.
The second magazine article I looked at was an interview with the Foo Fighters by NME. The tone of it was quite relaxed and jokey; but I believe this was down to the genre of the band, but mostly the topic on what they were talking about. I feel reviews are a good way for fans to discover the truth of a band, and to make the reader feel closer to the band aswell.
I decied to go for an interview in my double page spread because I wanted to get an insight to Rise Against, and for people to discover what they are really about. I liked it because it's very personal and I believe many readers will find it enjoyable to read.

Flat Plans

These are my flat plans for my magazine.
I decided to use a standard setup of my magazine (headline, dominant picture, extra information etc) to keep a familiar face to my magazine, and so readers won't be intimidated by it. Readers can get put off reading something that seems different. For my headline (Rise Against) I put it at a slant to get a rebellious look to the magazine. This relates to my target audience and genre of the magazine, for rock music and the people who listen to it are often associated with the word 'rebellious'. I tried to put something everywhere to show the reader that there's a lot inside the magazine to read and enjoy.
For my contents page I kept it plain and simple, but interesting to look at. I didn't want readers to get confused on page numbers or featured artists in the magazine. Furthermore, my target audience of lower/middle class, would easily get confused so I took this into account.
My double page spread features lots of pictures. Readers often skip through pages and stop at a page that seems interesting to read. I used lots of pictures with bright colours for attraction, and I kept the text copy-light for my target audience of lower/middle class won't want to read much. From this I decided to split my page into 3rds. 1rd reading, and 2rds pictures. I gathered my target audience would prefer to look at more than read more so I took this into account.

Evaluation of finished magazine

My magazine is similar to ‘Kerrang!’ magazine with its font and position of pictures. Kerrang’s masthead’s font is broken up by possible means of noise damage or violence. This can be closely associated with the aggressive and loud nature of the heavy metal genre. On the basis of this, I also used a similar type of font for my metal magazine, but with the added effect of, what looks like, barbed wire around it. This gives the effect of broken imprisonment, or a jailbreak, which gives the reader an idea of the toughness of the genre and magazine, and instantly shows the target audience when looking at it.

Most of the time on a Kerrang magazine, the main picture that dominates the page is of a single band member, or the band as a whole posing in an aggressive manner making eye-contact with the camera. The effect of this is that it makes us feel the band is looking right at us, encouraging us to buy the magazine. On my magazine I also had the whole band dominating the front cover. However, my band had their backs turned, walking away from the camera. I also blackened them out completely so their identities remained hidden. I did this on purpose to put across the meaning of the band that I was portraying. Rise Against (the band on the cover) isn’t about fame and glory; it just helps to get their meaning across. In their lyrics they sing about troubles in the world, to give a realisation to their fans and anyone who listens to their music. I tried to interpretate this with the picture I used.

I think with this originality and the bold broken masthead, this will stand out above other magazines, but also will put the meaning of the magazine and its contents across.

The targeted social group for my magazine are about 15+, metal and rock lovers. This is easily shown by the font and colours used. Throughout my magazine a recurrent theme of red and black colours and typewriter, worn-down and broken fonts. The colour red has many meaning but in the cohesion of my magazine it is made clear that it represents blood. In my contents I have even used and ink splat brush, but when made red it gives the effect of a running wound or splatter. Unappealing to most, this effect makes it clear that this magazine is aimed to the tough, un-squeamish lovers of heavy metal music. The colour black is the most dominate theme colour of the magazine. This represents death but also gives good contrast with the white and red and avoids making the magazine look all over the place and unprofessional.

The lexis I have used on my magazine also relates to the genre and target audience. On the front cover I said “front row interview with the band”. The ‘front row’ phrase is the position you would be at a concert when you are right next to the stage – nearest to the band. Not only does this relate to the target audience with reference of being at a gig, but it also shows tells us that the interview will be personal and the ‘best view’ of the band.

Just below the masthead I have placed a tagline that sums up the magazine and the people who read it. It says “Your weekly rock dose-age”. This not only shows the magazine is weekly, but implies that the magazine is a drug – addictive to read. Many say rock music is their drug, and I have made it seem that Breakdown is their dealer to feed their thirst.

My magazine would likely be sold at music shops with a large variety, like HMV. I would imagine a store like this would stock such an item for they handle many genres, and have something for everyone. My magazine is targeted on those who love heavy rock music and HMV will have a home for that. It is unlikely that my sort of magazine will be sold at an outlet like WH Smiths, and because of its small fan base WH Smith wouldn't gain a great deal of money putting it on the shelves. In reflecton, a heavy rock fan is unlikely to go searching for a magazine as such in a shop like WH Smiths.

My magazine is directed on those who love heavy rock music. This tends to be people at the age of around 16+ and outcasts or who generally turn against from popular music and lifestyle. The magazine will be orientated around America and England, where this genre of music can be popular in places, and have the largest fan bases. Males are most likely to listen to the genre; however some girls are known to like the genre as well. My magazine has taken this into comparison, by advertising heavy girl bands, but I have kept it souly for males.
The target audience relates to 'Kerrang!' magazine greatly, which is my style model for my magazine. Kerrang's target audience is also mainly male, teenage +, social outcasts situated in America and England.

There are many things on my magazine that relates to my audience, and stands out to them. Firstly, the colour scheme of black, white and red would really stand out to my target audience, for it is the typical colour of clothing, in which these people would wear. The fonts I used also contribute to the attraction of my audience; the broken up font relates to my audience's tough and wreckless behaviour. For my strapline I used a bold outline to make the whole title look tougher.

In photoshop, I could get the blood splatter effects and the skull prints by using the brushes. With photoshop I could also get the colours and positioning perfect; something I wouldn't be able to create without. Photoshop combined with my knowledge of the software, really made me able to create most things I wanted. However I wasn't able to keep a straight border around an image i'd rotated. That is the only thing I wasn't able to create in photoshop that I'd wanted.

Since the prelimary task, my design skills and photoshop and editing knowledge has improved greatly. Just by looking at both side-by-side, it's easy to tell, i can tell where to put things, and in what colours. I took this part more seriously for I had a great interest in it. Because of my interest in it, I had more knowledge of it; so I generally knew what looked right in that specific genre.

Photo Editing

I edited this picture and made all the people into silhouettes and the surrounding in white. The effect of this made all the people in the picture stand out and also kept their identities hidden. Also, what they are wearing and where they are isn't really relevant to the genre of the band - completely blackening them resolves this situation. To make this effect I imported the picture onto Photoshop then using the magnetic lasso tool I outlined all the people in the picture and filled them in black. I then filled the background in white. I think this I quite effective, and it looks much better after I edited the picture. The picture implies that anyone can fill in these blank spaces and follow the ways of 'Rise Against' (the band that is portrayed in the picture).

Photos

All the performing band pictures are of a local band which I am close friends with. I attended a few of their gigs and took photos of them. Because of this I couldn't decide on clothing for them or tell them to do specific poses. However, I managed to get some good photos at points where they did their own poses and positions. I used these pictures on my magazine under different band names, for it'll be hard and time-consuming to get lots of pictures of different bands. But this isn't really an issue for the pictures aren't that clear of the band member's identity, so I could easily pass by saying they are from different bands. I took pictures of this band because the genre of their music matches the genre in my magazine. This is shown by the drums, bass guitar and electric guitar - the iconic instruments of the rock genre.
The one picture I did set up is the one with 7 people walking away from the camera. I used this picture for my front cover. Normally, a front cover picture consists of a couple of people facing into the camera, but I felt this picture was suitable for the band I'm putting the faces to. Rise Against is all about walking away from modern day and rise against to everything wrong and standing up to everything that's right. The picture shows all of them together implying that we should all stand up and fight together. It also shows the meaning of Rise Against; that they don't care about publicity - they turn their back on it. I also believe for its originality this will stand out and show that there's nothing like this magazine.
The picture of the man on the stool playing guitar and the stage photo with the smoke machines going off, were both taken from the concert Nickelback which I attended. Both of these photos feature on my contents page; they give a clearer image to what's inside the magazine. Obviously, I took these photos myself. I chose them to put in my magazine because I thought the two pictures aside each other shows good contrast and diversity in the rock music in the magazine (Rock - Smoke machine + electric guitars - Acoustic - Acoustic guitar + spotlight and single man on stage).
Another picture I chose from the same concert was the one that covers my double page spread. No members of the band are seen in this picture when I placed it on my page, but the fireworks and lazers are. This gives my double page spread an 'explosive' feel and drawing effect.